


Best Friend

by JemiCrisis



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Falling In Love, Inconsistent chapter lengths, Inspired by Best Friend by Rex Orange County, M/M, Swearing, slow burn maybe?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-06-24 16:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19727773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemiCrisis/pseuds/JemiCrisis
Summary: Each chapter is based on a lyric from Best Friend - Rex Orange County with MarkHyuck in the mixAn AU where MarkHyuck find happiness in their friendship, healing themselves before they build longer lasting relationships with people they actually care about. Like each other.





	1. I shoulda stayed at home.

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea because of NCT Dream best friend edits.

It was June, Donghyuck was spending his birthday alone, like always. All of his friends had already gone back to their homes, to their parents.

He felt alone without his own parents.

He went to a restaurant and ordered some chicken dish to make himself feel better, the waiter looked at him with a cloudy expression, Donghyuck didn’t care.

When Donghyuck received the receipt for his meal, there was a number on the backside and a message.

_Hey… you looked pretty sad, if you want to vent about anything you can text me!_

Donghyuck looked up and saw the waiter from earlier staring at him with a goofy smile and he sent him a wave, Donghyuck’s heart thudded violently against his chest.

Little did Donghyuck know that it would be the start of something disastrous.


	2. I see all these people that love me but I still feel alone. Can’t help but check my phone.

Mark hadn’t received a text from the boy, it’s been what, two months?

Mark’s life was almost perfect, he had a big brother and family that loved him dearly. He moved to Korea to attend university and while it was tough with living expenses and studying, he was happy. Except… he was lonely. Mark only had a handful of friends but he hadn’t gone out in months because their schedules would never align. He had only been living there for a year or so.

So he sprung on the chance to help someone out, and it seemed like it wasn’t going well. He had given a random stranger his phone number, what did he expect? A grateful "thank you" and a new friend? Why was he so naïve? Who in the world would trust a random stranger? He would have liked being friends with the boy, but he never saw the boy again after that one time in the restaurant, and he constantly checked his phone to see if he had received any texts from an unknown number, or his friends, or his family.

But there was nothing. Nothing at all.

He felt unneeded, nobody wanted him. Why was he such a loser? He curled up onto the bed that he had shoved to the far wall of his room when he first moved into the apartment. He remembers how carefree he was then. He felt fresh tears cascade onto the bedsheets, quickly soaking them. He fell asleep like that. All alone and in a torrent of pain.

~

Mark woke up to complete darkness, he got out of bed and stumbled to the wall to turn on the light, and he was blinded. God, he hated when that happened. Once his eyes adjusted he went about searching for his phone, which was on his bed, right where he had slept… well, that was easy.

He checked his phone, the first thing he noticed was the time, which was 9:43 in the evening. The second and more important thing he noticed was a text notification, which made his whole world seem just a bit brighter.

_Hey, this is the sad ass from the restaurant two months ago. You’re the goofy waiter, right?_

Mark Lee had never felt so giddy in his life.


	3. I wanna be the one that makes your day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am: tired. There's probably like, 20 swear words in this chapter ahaha.

Donghyuck knew what he was getting into on the inside. It was why he took so long to finally text the dorky, but cute, waiter. Well actually, Jaemin was the one that pressured him into it.

~

About a week before he had texted the waiter, Jaemin had come home from the summer holidays, only to find Donghyuck sitting at the cheap kitchen table for two, even though there was three of them living in the apartment, staring at the back of a receipt.

“Hyuckie~! What’s that you got?” Only then did Donghyuck realise the brat was back and quickly tried to shove the piece of paper back into his hoodie pocket. Unfortunately, it fell right back out, like the stupid slippery piece of mushed tree it was, and Jaemin had quick enough reflexes to catch it before Donghyuck could. He cursed mentally.

“OOOO!! Lee Donghyuck! How come you didn’t tell me you were texting someone, hmmm??” He really really wanted to punch Jaemin in the face, very much so. He was too much of an imp, so was YangYang, but he was still in China. God knows whatever crackhead behaviour was happening there.

He stood up way too quickly, it made him slightly dizzy. “Give it back you nosy ass! I’m not texting anybody!” He tried to grab the receipt from his housemate’s hands but with no luck. Jaemin was too quick for him.

“DOES LEE SINGLE-AS-FUCK DONGHYUCK HAVE A GIRLFRIEND? I THINK SOOOO!!!” Why the fuck is Na Jaemin such a tease?

“I HAVEN’T EVEN TEXTED THE GUY YET!” The words flew out before he could process what he had revealed. Him and his big mouth.

“OO I’LL TEXT HIM FOR Y- wait… guy?” Oh god he screwed up, didn’t he?

“Y-yeah… guy.” Pleasedontbehomophobicpleasedontbehomophobicpleasedontbehomophobic-

“Donghyuck,” Jaemin started slowly “you never told me that you were gay, or bi, or any kind of sexuality that means you like men.”

Donghyuck took a deep breath, one step at a time, slowly, he answered “Gay, Jaemin. Just… Gay.”

“Oh my god I’m so sorry Donghyuck, I assumed you were straight when you had never told me anything about your sexuality!”

“So, are you okay with it?”

“Heck yeah! I’m bi, Hyuck!”

“Ah… I knew something was up when you kept looking at the guy in the KFC Drive-Thru.”

“Hey! He was pretty though wasn’t he?”

“Yeah yeah,” He doesn’t even remember, he just wants out of this talk “did you get his phone number though?”

Jaemin sighed deeply “I fucking wish! Boy looked too scared to even give us our chicken!”

“Probably because you were staring into his soul trying to figure out if you were a match made in heaven, or whatever you call it.”

“Okay, as if you weren’t staring like that at your pretty boy either!” God damn it, he thought he was in the clear too.

“No, I didn’t really…” Donghyuck expressed solemnly, he kinda wished he did though, he doesn’t really remember the waiter’s face that well. Mostly because he was too busy being sad as fuck on his birthday. He remembers thinking his face was cute, but that’s about it.

Jaemin, like the surprisingly good friend he is, feels the sudden mood drop in Donghyuck. “Hyuck? Come on, let me help you.”

Donghyuck proceeded to tell him everything that happened on his birthday, it wasn’t that much mind you, after the receipt thing the waiter kept his distance but when he had brought him his food he had given him the silliest smile. Acting like a total dork. But Donghyuck loved it. Donghyuck loved how the waiter was a total clown in front of him, just to try and make him smile. He just didn’t appreciate it at that moment, it wasn’t until after he got home that his heart swooned for the complete stranger.

“So… why don’t you just text him? Or go to the restaurant again?”

“FUCK NO!! I’m not that confident!” He fails to tell Jaemin that it’s almost been two months since he visited the restaurant.

“… I can’t believe you’re having a gay panic. Right, we need to go to Chittaphon-hyung.”

“You are NOT going to drag me to ChittaPhony’s place!” He doesn’t like him that much, he was no fun around Donghyuck, okay no that’s not the actual reason… he was just so jealous of how open Chittaphon was with his sexuality, like it was nothing to be afraid of showing.

“You bet I am, Hyuck.” Fuck. It was going to be one long ride.

Needless to say, the talk with Chittaphon was more like him and Jaemin agreeing with everything the other said. Donghyuck just can’t seem to win, can he?

~

So here he is now. He’s sitting across from the waiter boy, who looks excited as all hell, and to be honest… he is too. Waiter boy had asked Donghyuck to come and meet him today during his break from work. He looks at the face of the boy he is swiftly becoming enamoured with, how his dark hair perfectly contrasts with his puppy-like eyes. He looks so soft, so cute, and so fucking attractive. Donghyuck mentally gives birthday Donghyuck praise for drawing the attention of this wondrous boy.

“So uh” The way the boy’s voice cracks strangely sounds musical to Donghyuck’s ear “My name is Mark Lee, but my Korean name is Lee Minhyung!” Mark sounds professional, but Minhyung sounds cute!

“Which name do you prefer?” Donghyuck is so curious about him, he wants to know everything.

“Uh… I grew up in Canada so I used Mark more… so like, Mark I guess? But I suppose Minhyung is fine as well!” Donghyuck likes Minhyung more than Mark, it’s cuter and is a better name for the person he is staring at right now, who was fidgeting and bouncing up and down. But he can see how the boy in front of him likes being called Mark a heck of a lot more than Minhyung so Mark it is. “Hey! You never told me your name, what is it?”

That catches Donghyuck off guard, it shouldn’t but it does, he just wants to be absorbed into the world of Mark Lee and know everything there is to know. But he gives an answer “Lee Donghyuck.”

“Nice to meet you, Donghyuck!” Mark stretches out his hand, wow is this what Canadians do? Donghyuck shyly takes Mark’s hand and the boy shakes it vigorously. It kind of hurts but it’s okay.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mark!” Donghyuck flashes his best smile, and it’s genuine. He hasn’t felt so pleasantly happy in the two month gap since their first encounter.

“Hey, my shift ends in about fifteen minutes so… would you mind waiting on me and we can go somewhere else?” Donghyuck couldn’t think of anything more perfect.

“Yeah! Sure! No problem!” He had tried his best to not seem too excited but he probably failed miserably.

“Great! See you in fifteen!” Mark shoots another goofy smile at Donghyuck and he swears he is going to combust if that boy doesn’t stop.

~

Exactly fifteen minutes passed and Donghyuck is greeted by an exasperated Mark Lee bursting out of the restaurant. He’s wearing light wash denim shorts and a slightly baggy white t-shirt that's sticking to his torso in the sweltering summer heat. Donghyuck still thinks he looks stunning.

“Where do you want to go, Mark? It’s getting dark…” Sure enough, it was 11:00 at night when Mark finished his shift. There aren’t many places they can go to now.

“I know a place, come on, I’ll take you!” Mark grabs Donghyuck by the hand and leads them to his car, he drives them to the outskirts of town and up to a high grassy hill. Mark stops the car and by the time they are out its midnight. Donghyuck is confused, he doesn’t know why Mark brought him there. Mark sits down on the grass and guides Donghyuck to do the same, he does, with just enough space to make it comfortable between them. Mark lies down onto the grass, Donghyuck hesitates, until Mark uses his hand on Donghyuck’s chest to push him backwards onto the grass. That’s when Donghyuck sees it.

The stars. The sky. Even the moon. It’s all so beautiful. There’s so many stars all scattered into the midnight sky. He wonders how many times Mark has looked up at this view in the same spot, he wonders if there was anyone else Mark had taken to this exact spot. Thinking of Mark he turns his head to Mark’s direction. Mark is already staring right back at him. Donghyuck’s heart beats wildly in his chest, his stomach feels messed up and his mind is all foggy, only seeing Mark’s expression of fondness directed at him.

He fucking loves Mark Lee, doesn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not @ how in any work that has Hyuck and Jaemin I make Jaemin annoy the shit out of Hyuck, because I find that funny.


	4. You better trust me when I tell you “there ain’t no one else more beautiful in this damn world”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that I didn't update this I was torn with how to go about writing it but I think I'm satisfied with how it turned out. It is short and I apologise for that but I'll try to get another chapter up soon.

Mark is staring at Donghyuck right now, they’re watching the stars upon the grassy hill. Well, Donghyuck is, Mark isn’t. Mind you he does really like looking at the sky, he was and still is in awe of it ever since he was a kid, and finding out in middle school that space existed and not just their own world made Mark curious of what was out there. Every time he looks at the sky he thinks about what kind of life is out there in the universe, even though what they can see right now is already exceptionally beautiful. The arrangement of stars and constellations are fascinating to look at and wonder about, why the universe was created so brilliantly mysterious.

Mark found out about this hill almost a year ago while driving around the countryside, just to be alone in his own thoughts. He had felt a wash of terror from living somewhere new. He had laid down on the grass and admired the stars for hours on end, and it healed him of his worry. It was lovely as it was far away from the city, enough so that you couldn’t hear the cars whizz by. He loves this place, he visits it often. He never got to share it with anyone else, but the feeling he gets now when Donghyuck is beside him staring up at the night sky is magical. Ambiguous in a way that he wishes he could describe it in detail, but mesmerising enough that there was nothing else like it. A feeling of inexact bliss. He loves it. He wants to just lie in this feeling forever.

He realises that Donghyuck is staring back at him, he doesn’t know how long he was gone for, but as he looks into Donghyuck’s slightly glassy eyes he thinks, how did he come across someone like this? Someone who seems like he really cares. He wants to say something, anything to tell Donghyuck that despite only knowing each other for the better part of a day, he wants to become closer friends, he wants more. He feels his lips move on their own, his brain too out of it to try and listen to what his mouth is saying, but his heart becomes a wreck when he sees that Donghyuck’s eyes focus again and widen in shock.

“Thank you…” Mark doesn’t know whether to smack or praise himself for saying whatever he had said. Donghyuck turns his head up towards the sky again, a flush covering his face.

“You look like a cherry.” The words spill out of his mouth with no filter, his brain listens this time, it captures Donghyuck’s laugh, and his heart goes haywire again. He gets a smack in the arm and Donghyuck shuffles closer to him, lips almost touching his ear. His body naturally tenses up.

“Well… you look like a chestnut.” Mark laughs and he tackles Donghyuck, tickling him, revelling in the shrieks the boy beside him lets out. His head feels light but he’s happy. He feels so content in Donghyuck’s presence it’s like a piece of him has returned and made him whole, he just never knew when it went, or why it disappeared.

It doesn’t feel awkward when they fall back into silence, staring at the stars, closer than before.


	5. The one you think about as you lie awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this work probably won't get updated for a few weeks as I am going on holiday! Very sorry about that, but it just gives me more time to brood on what to write so I guess that works out?

They were on the grass for about an hour or so before they decided that they wanted something to eat, even though Donghyuck wouldn’t have minded staying just a tiny bit longer. Mark had explained that he hadn’t lived in Korea that long and didn’t know anywhere that would be open so late. Donghyuck however, knew somewhere they could go to.

~

They were sitting outside of a food truck. It was past two o’clock at this point and there’s no light other than the single streetlight and the food truck, which was located near the centre of a park, a gushing fountain directly in its heart. Donghyuck had found this food truck one time after walking home from a house party, god did it save him, Ten was never that good of a cook.

There’s part of a plank missing from the wooden bench they were sitting on, as if it was kicked in, but Donghyuck sat to cover it up before Mark noticed. There was nowhere else to sit and Donghyuck didn’t want Mark to feel uncomfortable so his first thought was to sit on it and leave the unbroken space for Mark. It’s not like they would stay there long anyway. They’re digging into burgers that were kind of lacklustre in Donghyuck’s opinion, but were better than nothing. His drunk self had thought these were way better.

“Hey, these are actually pretty good!” Mark beamed his signature goofy smile at Donghyuck for what felt like the twentieth time in the past three hours. It made Donghyuck think about changing his own opinion.

“… You have pretty low standards for burgers, considering you’re from America.”

“Canada! It’s Canada!” Mark made a face of annoyance and Donghyuck chuckled slightly, he got it wrong on purpose just to see Mark’s reaction, and it was funny seeing how he got riled up.

“Okay, Canada.” He pushed Mark’s arm lightly and the boy laughed as well. It felt nice, to hear his laugh that is. Nothing else. Definitely not the fact that he had made Mark laugh. Totally not that.

~

Mark drove Donghyuck back to his house after that, he may or may not have made some of his directions wrong to create a detour in order to sit in Mark’s car for just a while longer. Just a little bit longer.

Then there was the stop as they drove up to Donghyuck’s shared house. The awkwardness at the doorway as they tried to wrack their brains to find something to talk about. The fact that Mark settled with “let’s do that again sometime!” The “sure! See you later!” Donghyuck had given back to him. The false promise of another outing. The wave goodbye Mark gave him as he was walking to his car. The look Mark gave him just before he started the car. The way Donghyuck’s heart fluttered. The way that Mark’s stare didn’t falter until the car started up. The way Donghyuck’s eyes had lingered on Mark even after Mark turned his attention to the road. The light slam of the door when Mark’s car could no longer be seen from his vision as it drove away. The feeling of his body slumping against said door. The crying afterward. Donghyuck had felt all of this before. He knew where it would lead. He knew and yet, he wanted it. If it would give him just a tiny bit of happiness, for however long, he’ll take it.

He didn’t sleep well that night. In fact, he didn’t feel the sweet limbo of sleep at all. He was up all night.

The only thought, the only thing, the only person on his mind that was driving him to insanity? Mark Lee.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments! I like reading what y'all think! Also anyone that watched NCT Best Friend edits please cry with me.


End file.
